Chapter 805: Trial (2)
There was a large courtroom in the building. This was the same room where Mountainseas or even Sunmoons had been put on trial in the past. Of course, those trials were mostly for the purpose of internal investigation. Back then, Great Xia Cultural Research Academy had a lot of Sunmoons.
At the moment, the Invincibles, Marquis Xia, and the representatives of the various prefectures had yet to arrive. Instead, a lot of curious onlookers had arrived. The center of the large room was left empty. The empty space was surrounded by chairs arranged in three directions. Many of the chairs on the two sides were already occupied.
Su Yu saw a lot of people, including some familiar faces. Apart from Hong Tan\'s group, almost all the elders of the academy were present as well. Yuan Qingdong was also there, accompanied by several Sunmoons.
Even Zhou Hongbo\'s group he met in Nanyuan was here as well. Su Yu was unsure if they were here as the representatives of the holy lands or as descendants of Invincibles. Huang He and the others who had traveled alongside him to Great Xia City were nowhere to be seen. They were probably not important enough to be allowed entry.
Su Yu also saw Zhou Mingren among the crowd. He was already a Sunmoon, and he was maintaining a low profile. He sat silently at an inconspicuous corner of the room with a few other individuals. Liu Hong was actually one of the individuals beside him. Su Yu didn\'t know what was Liu Hong\'s current status. Perhaps he had become one of Zhou Mingren\'s trusted subordinates.
Su Yu also saw Wu Qi, who was seated beside Wu Yuehua. He also saw Xia Yuwen with Vice Principal Xia Changqing. Zhou Hao was not present. Perhaps he was still too weak to be allowed in here.
There were a lot of familiar faces. Xia Yunji and company could be seen nearby Hong Tan. They had probably managed to stabilize their cultivation recently as Su Yu could see that they had reached the eighth and ninth stages of the Mountainsea Realm. He wondered if they had fully absorbed their inherited characters.
Before long, Ji Hong entered the room. He said nothing and sat down on a random seat. After a while, Administrator Hu and General Zhao arrived. Next, the representatives of the various prefectures arrived one after another.More and more people had arrived. At this point, there were nearly two hundred people in the room. There was a terrifying number of Sunmoons present. These people had arrived from Great Xia, the holy lands, and the various prefectures. Including the Sunmoon weaponsmiths, there were dozens of them here.
Suddenly, someone sat down beside Su Yu.
When he looked over, he saw that Xia Huyou and Xia Chan had arrived. Noticing Su Yu\'s gaze, Xia Huyou smiled and said, "Brother Cui, are you fine with me sitting here?"
"Yes."
Su Yu smiled indifferently, "You\'re the heir of Xia Family. You can naturally sit wherever you want."
"Don\'t say that. Invincibles will be present today. I\'m nothing." Xia Huyou grinned, "Brother Cui, I saw you when you completed your profound weapon yesterday. You looked great. Someone with your ability can do well everywhere. Brother Cui, have you ever considered moving to Great Xia? I personally think that Great Xia is a great place..."
The surrounding people were paying attention to the conversation out of curiosity. But when they heard that the person from Xia Family was merely here to rope in Cui Lang, they lost interest.
Xia Chan was fully ignoring the two. She had heard of Cui Lang\'s reputation. A womanizer like him might not be rare in Great Ming, but these people were usually viewed with disdain in Great Xia. The women of Great Xia were more proud and independent.
She had nothing to say about Xia Huyou\'s attempt to recruit Cui Lang. He was indeed a talented weaponsmith. She wouldn\'t stop him, but she wouldn\'t help him either. Xia Huyou maintained a smile on his face and kept talking even when Su Yu was only giving perfunctory replies.
"Three Invincibles will be here for this trial. Great Han King will be representing the Knowledge Seeking Realm, Silk Destroying King will be representing the War Shrine, and Great Song King will be representing the Invincibles and military stationed on the Allheaven Battlefield."
Su Yu asked with surprise, "Has this matter attracted the attention of even those in the Allheaven Battlefield?"
"Of course." Xia Huyou sighed, "If only regular Mountainseas were dead, it naturally wouldn\'t cause such a big ruckus. But these dead Mountainseas were either retired soldiers or those still on active duty. For example, the one from the Rising Sky Sea was actively serving there. Killing these Mountainseas is different from killing other Mountainseas."
"Sigh." Xia Huyou said, "This won\'t be easy to deal with."
Su Yu appeared quite indifferent as he said, "What\'s so difficult about that? If it was Feng Ji, just behead him. If it was anyone else, penalize them according to the laws as long as you have sufficient proof. I\'m only curious about the motive behind the killings."
Su Yu curiously said, "Were they enemies? Or had Feng Ji turned into a real cultist after being undercover for so long?"
"We\'re not sure. Just wait for the trial. Feng Ji is taking the blame for all the kills, but we need further investigation to know the truth."
Su Yu nodded and said nothing else. At that moment, someone appeared in the room. It was Marquis Xia. He took a seat on the main rostrum of the hall. At the same time, three other individuals appeared out of nowhere. When one looked at them, one would have an illusion that they had been there all along. Everyone in the hall stood up and bowed.
"We greet the three kings."
"Be at ease."
Great Han King\'s voice rang out and everyone sat down again. Apart from the era of war, one could rarely see three Invincibles together nowadays. Sure, such scenes would definitely occur every now and then, but regular people wouldn\'t be made aware of it.
The sounds of discussion in the room faded away. Most people stopped talking, and even those who were still conversing were doing so through voice transmissions. A pin-drop silence enveloped the room.
Marquis Xia knocked on his table and solemnly said, "I will be summarizing the case that has resulted in the public trial today. Over the past few months, five Mountainseas from different prefectures of the Human Realm have been assassinated."
"General Liu Qi of Rising Sky Sea, General Sun Ran of Great Tang, General Xie Rong of Great Qi, Great Shang...Great Wu..."
After listing the names, Marquis Xia continued, "Five Mountainseas have been assassinated within the Human Realm. In Great Wu, the assassin exposed their trail. A general from the Great Wu Army gave chase and ultimately discovered an unconscious Feng Ji in the wilderness outside their capital city.
"Feng Ji had only regained his consciousness after the general arrived. The general has arrived here today. We will find out more about this later.
"Everyone knows what happened next. Feng Ji confessed to killing all those Mountainseas. As for the process, motive, and whether there are any co-conspirators, they are still unknown. Neither Great Xia or Great Wu have reached a conclusion on this matter.
"Feng Ji used to be a genius researcher of Great Xia. Nineteen years ago, he entered the Luminous Domain Mansion. He was then rumored dead. Subsequently, it was verified that Chen Yong had saved him and sent him into the Six-Winged Divine Sect as a spy."
After giving an introduction on Feng Ji\'s past, Marquis Xia said, "Today, Great Han King, Great Song King, and Silk Destroying King will trial Feng Ji themselves. As the homeland of Feng Ji, Great Xia is only responsible for providing the venue and ensuring fairness during the trial. Great Xia won\'t be involved in anything else."
Only his voice could be heard in the hall. Nobody argued. With three Invincibles present, nobody dared to say anything useless. Suddenly, someone knocked on the table in front of them.
Marquis Xia looked over and asked, "Faculty Head Hong, do you have anything to say?"
Hong Tan nodded and said, "With the three kings present, I wish to make something clear. I don\'t know what is going on with Feng Ji. I only know that my first student, Chen Yong, left to save Feng Ji several months ago. But now, he has gone missing. We don\'t know if he\'s dead or alive. Several months ago, Great Ming made the eight great families mount a rescue expedition and kill the Six-Winged Divine Sect members who were creating chaos in Human Realm. But even today, the two Sunmoons of the Six-Winged Divine Sect are still alive and free while my student has gone missing. Can I trouble an Invincible to check if my student is still alive?"
Everyone\'s eyes flickered. After a short silence, Great Han King replied, "That is an acceptable request. Wait a moment. We will verify if Chen Yong is still alive shortly."
"Thanks, Great Han King." Hong Tan said, "Have the two Sunmoon cultists been punished?"
After yet another short silence, Great Han King, "The eight families will take responsibility for their dereliction of duty."
"Thank you for upholding justice, Great Han King."
Hong Tan stopped talking.
Seeing that nobody else was saying anything, Marquis Xia said, "Take Feng Ji here."
A short while later, two Mountainseas and a slim middle-aged man entered the room. Feng Ji walked in front of the guards No restrictions had been placed on his body, but he still looked slightly pale.
After entering, he bowed, "Criminal Feng Ji greets the three kings and Marquis Xia."
He was calling himself a criminal.
Marquis Xia frowned slightly and said, "Feng Ji, with three kings present, speak honestly. You are not in the position to determine whether you\'re guilty or not. Nobody can hide the truth from an Invincible."
"Feng Ji understands."
Su Yu had been staring at Feng Ji since he entered the room. He looked thinner than he was during their previous meeting. He also looked older than before. He was no longer the same high-spirited middle-aged man. There were some wounds on his body. Clearly, he had yet to make a full recovery.
With Feng Ji\'s appearance, the crowd became active again. Undulations from voice transmissions constantly appeared. Everyone was conversing through voice transmissions.
Xia Huyou was also speaking through voice transmission, "Brother Cui, do you know Feng Ji?"
"No."
"Have you never met him before?"
"No."
Xia Huyou said, "That\'s good to hear. It\'s good that you have no involvement with him. Do you know Elder Chen Yong?"
"No. But I\'ve heard about him from Su Yu."
"You know Su Yu?"
"We met a few times."
"Had he ever mentioned that he\'s my sworn younger brother? Each time we meet, he\'ll call me big brother with a loving voice. I subjugated him with my tyrannical presence during our first meeting. He was so impressed with me that he begged me to take him as my subordinate. Had he ever told you all that?"
Su Yu remained indifferent as he said, "Nope. Are you sure you\'re not lying, Prince Xia? I doubt anyone will believe this."
"Why should I lie to you?" Xia Huyou continued speaking through voice transmission, "You must not be aware of this, Brother Cui. Su Yu had learned all his cultivation methods from me. All those cultivation methods came from the Xia Family. But since we don\'t lack money, we allow him to profit from our cultivation methods."
Su Yu didn\'t even deign to give a reply. This guy must have gone crazy. Was this fellow here to test him out? He ignored the little fatty and focused only on Feng Ji\'s voice.